I had my first good lucid dream by constantly thinking about it, looking stuff up on it, and doing reality checks.... all of which failed horribly for me.

So I quit trying, and within 2 days I had a good Lucid Dream.

Sometimes the best way is to just not try.

A possible reason for this is, when your constantly thinking about it, and keeping it on your mind, your not really giving it time to sink into your sub-conscious, which I believe is the part responsible for dreaming.By not thinking about it, its drifting into your sub-conscious where it will be accessed while dreaming more easily than if it were in your normal Conscious.